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By : Georgia Moore
7 min read
Looking back on a year of music, it’s one of the easiest years in recent memory for me to quickly pick out my favorite releases. Luckily for me, just in the past month some of my personal most-highly-anticipated singles have been released into the world, one in particular being “Sister!” by Lily Piette, a bouncy crowd pleaser during her set last week at O’Brien’s Pub.
What’s so clean about “Sister!” is how it leaves little room for buildup, with the heavy post-punkish beat playing off insatiably catchy vocals that make you catch yourself unconsciously bopping your head along. It picks up and builds, kind of this spiral upwards as the pace veers into a spectacular crash. Repetition and call-and-response gives the whole track a sing-songy sensibility, elevated with the lightness of Piette’s voice and captured in the playful energy brought by Piette and co. to the O’Brien’s stage.
“Sister!” marks one of several releases from Piette in 2023, including her second EP Tales of Butterflies with the single “Melody’s Backyard” and the A-Side (or B-Side? Who can say, they’re sisters but surely not twins) to “Sister!” and “Mordor.” “Mordor” is the cool to “Sister!”s warmth, evoking a steadiness that brings the same hypnotic energy. Lyrically and vocally, there’s a thread of airiness that can be traced through “Tales of Butterflies” and Piette’s 2022 EP, Back to 5. It’s a wispy, whispery element that gives the single an edge running parallel to the outright punchiness of other releases. What’s constant in Piette’s music is a kind of build, drawing the listener in from multiple dimensions with thrumming repetition and sharp peaks and shrieks.
These many sides of Piette’s discography are reflected in her performance, bringing in lilting jumps and audience participation in between songs. Whimsical choreography, two-stepping, and confessions of dark secrets all come into play with a surge of shouts and laughter from the room. One of your standard Allston five-bands-on-a-Monday-night bills, the upbeat camaraderie and unflagging energy of performers kept the night going strong until the very end. Piette was joined by Medford favorites Chowder and Big Moss, as well as a solo acoustic set from Eli Mihaly-Baker and a ear-splitting rock n’ roll blowout from Brighton’s own Ohio State Fair. Only one word feels like it can appropriately sum up both Piette’s “Sister!” and the collective performance dished out by a menagerie of indie rock acts: good, clean, fun! For fans of the up and coming, the fresh, and most importantly, the FUN in Boston Music: look no further.
Originally published in-print in Boston Compass Newspaper #165 January 2024
Check out all the art and columns of January's Boston Compass at www.issuu.com/bostoncccompass